<Breathing freely...>
You mean the ones chanting "No Saddam, no Bush" in the streets? They probably are sighing in relief, that the Baathist oppression has been removed. But free? Not yet, not until the foreign army of occupation is gone.
<...not having a dictatorship...>
Using the dictionary definition, a dictatorship is exactly what they will have, after the (hopefully short) current period of chaos is over. The U.S. soldiers and ex-soldiers, appointed from Washington, they will "dictate" to the Iraqis. As they are doing today. They will exercise absolute and arbitrary authority, backed up by force, not by the "consent of the governed." We are already appointing and choosing and selecting the un-elected Iraqis who will serve us.
How legitimate can any election be, if every city and town is patrolled by a foreign army? Were the elections in E. Europe legitimate, from 1945-1990? Is it a coincidence, that in every nation in W. Europe with U.S. soldiers in it during the Cold War, no Communist Party won an election? Is it a coincidence, that the Republican Party won elections in the U.S. South when the Union Army occupied them, but the Democrats won every election there, as soon as the army was withdrawn? If the Turkish army occupied Kurdistan, and a pro-Turkish government was elected under their supervision, how legitimate would that be? If the Iranian army occupied the Shiite parts of Iraq, and held an election, (with the predictable result), would you accept that as legitimate? No election is legitimate, if held under the guns of any foreign army of occupation. And, yes, that includes our army.
<....that is the value, the long lasting historical one.>
It is the "triumph of hope over experience" to believe what we do in Iraq will last. Or that Operation Iraqi Freedom will deliver on its promise. The relevant examples from history are Afghanistan and Kuwait, not Germany and Japan.
If I thought there was even a 50/50 chance that we could actually deliver freedom, I'd agree with you, all the costs would be acceptable. The cost in money and lives (ours and theirs), the temporary chaos, the looted museum, it would all be worthwhile, in a good cause. I'm sure the Redcoats at Lexington thought they were serving a good cause, too. |
